The present invention relates to virtual sales personnel, and more particularly, to software which is capable of assisting a computer user to complete an on-line sales transaction in a substantially similar manner as a human sales representative.
As the Internet grows, many Web sites are becoming connected and more corporations are trying to do business on the "Web". Although most information is still given freely on the Internet, an increasing number of organizations are attempting to actually sell their products electronically by charging a credit card. As credit card security problems are being resolved, the area of electronic sales, or Electron Commerce (e-commerce), has been developing rapidly. The new and exciting point about e-commerce is the ability of every one, almost anywhere on the globe to which a Web connection is available, to access any commercial business offerings catalog implemented as a Web site. Moreover, the user, can access this service anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, one area in which virtual stores lag far behind their actual, physical counterparts is in the area of sales representatives.
A common practice worldwide in actual physical stores is to have sales representatives or sales persons. These sales representatives help the customer to understand the product and its benefit to the customer, as well as enabling customers to find the needed product quickly. In addition, the sales representative can advise the customer on product related issues, including the virtues of competing brands. In this sense, the sales representative is the technical expert who generally advises the buyer. However, since the sales representative is also an employee of the store, the sales representative should also promote certain products according to the interest of the business and also sell as many products as possible.
As a basic example, if customers go to a computer hardware or software store, a sales representative helps them find the appropriate product. Even when ordering a product over the phone, a sales representative can speak to the customer directly and give advice. Unfortunately, when the customer wishes to buy a product through the Internet, only a menu and pictures are shown. No advice, no knowledge, no expertise, no confidence in the purchase is provided. Thus, if the customer does not understand computers, for example, he or she will not purchase one through a virtual store on the Internet since no advice is provided.
Clearly, one solution would be to add the Sales Representative function to the Internet virtual store. Currently, the merchant would need to hire 3 shifts of human representatives for a 7 day work week, including holidays. Then, the merchant would need a chat system in a cell center of some sort for enabling communication from these "human" Sales Representatives to the users over the Web. Thus, this solution is difficult and expensive to implement.
There is thus a need for, and it would be useful to have, a virtual sales representative accessible through the Internet or via some other electronic connection, with which a potential customer can communicate through interactions with a GUI (graphical user interface) such as a Web browser.